Today’s scope on a 1,004 sq ft, 3/1, built in 1957 revealed some dirt at the joints. I’ve seen roots at the joints, but this doesn’t look like roots. It looks like dirt. My question is, could this be ant/termite activity in search of water? In the photos you can see where the water has washed away the dirt, so I know there are no roots involved there. The other joints are clear of roots and dirt and look good. I’m just trying to figure what I’m looking at and am wondering if anyone else has seen this before.
You have white dirt there in 2021? jk. Given the age of the pipes it may be mineral deposits or efflorescence. It doesn’t look like dirt to me. There may be some minor leakage at those joints causing it. Regardless it will likely catch debris, assuming those are solid and not just tp, and a qualified plumber should further evaluate. If you have a video you should send it to local plumbers and hear what they have to say.
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Hey Bob, For some reason my camera unit won’t hold the date. I can set it and it’ll be good for a day, but then it reverts back to 2021. The dirt is actually tan, not white. I’ll see if I can find a plumber.
I get it. Its always hard to tell the true color from these cameras and I have the same issues with some of my gadgets with the dates. I see a lot of clay and cast iron, but haven’t really seen dirt forming in that way. May be a regional thing? Let us know what the plumber says.
Sorry for a late chime in - long day and West Coast…
I have seen this before in a few lines with Vitrified Clay Pipe (VCP) and had no clue as to what it was…Had one customer getting their line replaced from other broken sections and I asked them to let me know when it was being done. I went to the job to see (close to my home) and an old crusty plumber basically summed it up as this. It is calcium carbonate forming on the sides of the pipe, based on soil content and ground water levels that penetrate the pipe more easily on segmented joints. It gets heavily scaled and hard over time as it happens seasonally.
With that, take it for what it is. I live in Seattle and your soil conditions are surely different than here, but he took a removed piece of pipe and darn near had to hit it with a hammer and chisel to chip it away.
The build up was in the same basic places with smooth on the bottom and a white ring on the perimeter.
That clock though!!!
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Sorry for the late responce. I got called away yesterday when I was reviewing the thread.
At first I thought iron ochre but then realized that was wrong by the white color and density of the anomaly.
Looking at the pipe material being clay/concrete I realized it is likely Vitrified Clay Pipe or VCP for short. VCP was commonly used in sewer systems, for gravity sewer collection systems, can sometimes develop a white, crusty buildup, often due to mineral deposits or bacterial growth. This “white scum” can be a combination of calcium carbonate derived from hard water, or other sorted mineral deposits or bacterial slime.
Vitrified Clay Pipe vs. PVC